Another Saturday – the first warm, although wet Saturday this year – and another weekend update. So, what am I going to spent my time with this weekend?
In addition, I will write and generally have some fun.
It really is strange, isn’t it? While politicians or political parties are ruling, they never promise much, but the moment they become part of the opposition, they start promising things they sure as hell couldn’t keep. But that’s politics for you.
Five years ago the SPD was the ruling party in Germany and they created, among other things that should not have been created, Hartz IV. Hartz IV is a newly organized social aid system that was – and still is – criticized very much.
Now, after having been part of the opposition for quite a while, members of the SPD come forward and demand changes in this system. The changes sound nice, but they can’t really be made, at least not all of them.
The SPD is not the only party that is doing it. Other parties have done it before and other parties will do it in the future. Yet I can’t help grinning whenever I hear a party in the opposition promise something that sounds good, but is impossible to do. I know they’ll forget all about it the moment they are ruling the country.
And that’s the reason why I haven’t been voting the last few times I have had the chance to do so. I seriously don’t know whom to vote for. All parties make big promises during their election campaigns and forget about them right afterwards. Voting has, for me, been a point of choosing the lesser of two evils. So I decided not to choose any evil at all.
Some people will – quite rightfully – point out that you need to take a part in politics in order to change things. And that, because of this, I should vote, even if it’s just for the lesser of two evils. I don’t think so. By not voting, I’m sending a statistical message (as every person over 18 is allowed to vote in Germany, unless they’re in jail or considered mentally disabled enough not to know what they’re doing). And a lot of other people have, in the past few years, sent the same message I have sent. We’re fed up with voting for the lesser of two evils and thus don’t vote at all.
Politics are a strange business and I’m not really sure I’d like to be a part of it.
I’ve had quite some time to watch TV during the last couple of weeks. That doesn’t mean I felt very well entertained or informed at all.
The gist of TV over the day is edutainment (with more entertainment than education), teleshopping, strange reality shows and soap operas. I’ve never been a fan of soap operas. I like information a lot, but I don’t like edutainment or infotainment programs. I never buy anything from teleshopping channels at all (neither from the teleshopping programs that run on certain TV stations in the morning and early afternoon). And while the strange reality shows (‘real life’ with actors and stories I don’t buy for a minute) have a certain morbid appeal, they are not something I can watch for long without laughing out loud.
Years ago I thought talk shows were bad, now I sometimes find myself wishing some of the first ones were still around. And that says something…
So I spent more time in front of my computer, usually not online (I do have my daily regime when it comes to the net), but writing, listening to music, watching DVDs or playing games. In addition, there’s always reading for me.
But I can’t help wondering whether this is the TV program people really want to see. I’ve never really been the ‘mainstream’ person, but I can’t believe I’m the only one who finds TV these days quite boring. The stations (especially those which receive money from the state and thus should make a better program) often complain about the loss of audience – so other people find something better to do than watching TV as well. They see the internet as an enemy or try to participate by putting their stuff online. Maybe instead they should use it to find out what people are interested in.
TV wasn’t all perfect and wonderful in the past. But it’s not getting any better in the present and may be really dreadful in the future.
They should have known it from the start. Guido Westerwelle, our current minister of foreign affairs, wasn’t exactly build for the job. Apart from a high rank on the ‘bad clad women’-list two times (and yes, Mr. Westerwelle is a man), he showed a rather undiplomatic character from the very beginning, not answering an English journalist an English question merely because it was a press conference in Germany.
Especially during the last few weeks, our Guido has been through the media in Germany a lot.
It started with his comparison between people on social care (called Hartz IV in Germany) and ‘late Roman decadence’. I don’t know if I just missed something, but I’ve hardly seen one of those on social care spending his/her whole day on a sofa, surrounded by slaves handing them delicatessen from all over the world (which is slightly larger today than it was then). Or are they having an orgy 24/7? What else could he have meant by ‘late Roman decadence’? Hardly living off 350 Euros plus rent (only for a flat of a certain size, otherwise you get nothing). You can’t buy all that many slaves or all that many delicatessen for that little money.
Once this had mostly passed through the media, Guido started it all over again by taking people who founded his election campaign with him on official journeys abroad (as a minister of foreign affairs, not as an individual), on the state’s money, aboard the state’s plane.
Apart from being highly unfortunate as a political decision, his remark about that ‘late Roman decadence’ was not really called for. His department are other countries, not his own. He’s the minister of foreign affairs, not of internal ones.
I’ve never been much of a fan of his party, but if Mr. Westerwelle doesn’t take a lot more care in the future, he might cost them all the hard-earned voters from the last election.
For all I can say, I’m really over my burnout now. I have made a plan of things to do this and next week, in order to get my flat back on track.
Ever since the burnout started to creep into my life, I’ve been less and less motivated (that’s part of the symptoms, after all). I’ve never been one of those over-active types that can’t sit still for a moment, but I’ve been far more active than I was last year (and maybe even the year before).
Now, for all I can say, activity has returned to my life. I’ve finally filed all the bills and other stuff I paid but never put away (I just created one big heap on which all of them were put). I have started to get up more or less regularly each day. I have started to take care of my flat (above simple vacuuming) again. I take a greater interest in the life around me and I have real plans once more.
This will also, of course, be reflected in my blogs. I will spent more time writing and find new topics to write about. Stay tuned, please.
